Minutiae matching system and method

ABSTRACT

A system and a method for minutiae record matching is claimed that includes the processing a first plurality of minutiae match values having a first ordered series with at least a second plurality of weighting values corresponding to a function of the number of minutiae matched for each minutiae match record to define a third plurality of weighted match values. The obtained weighted match value are sorted to provide a fourth plurality of weighted match values having a second ordered series. The inventive minutiae matching system is also described.

FIELD OF INVENTION

[0001] This invention relates generally to pattern identificationsystems, and more particularly to a system and method of matchingminutiae patterns of a set of prints to another set of prints.

BACKGROUND

[0002] Identification pattern systems, such as fingerprinting systems,play a critical role in modern society in providing public safety, suchas for criminal identification, and in civil applications such as creditcard or personal identity fraud. The accuracy of matching one set ofrecords to a second set of files quickly has become integral to a safeand efficient society.

[0003] Modern automatic fingerprint identification systems (AFIS) mayperform several hundred thousand to a few million comparisons of prints,including fingerprints and palm prints, per second. In a typical searchscenario a print (referred to typically as a search record) may becompared against millions of prints (typically referred to as filerecords) that are stored in the database of the identification systems.In these identification systems, a matching algorithm produces a list ofthe file record candidates that are the closest to the search recordsbased on minutiae characteristics. Examples of such systems aredescribed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,960,101; U.S. Pat. No. 4,135,147; and U.S.Pat No. 6,125,192.

[0004] Matching accuracy with instant speed is imperative to provideuseful data for the many identification applications. Often a latentprint, such as one left at a crime scene, is partially obscured,smudged, or contains background noise that may decrease the accuracy ofmatching the minutiae of the latent print to reference files. Thus, morematched records must be subsequently hand searched by a latent examinerto provide the accurate information required. In exchange for accuracy,however, the process is slower and more laborious.

[0005] To improve accuracy, designers have focused on obtaining betterlatent and reference prints, organizing data in databases to bettermatch prints such as using orientation and zoom features, and designingsystems that are more robust. However, enhancing substantial accuracywith speed remains a goal in this area. Thus, it would be desirable tohave an improved matching minutiae system and method that achievessubstantially increased accuracy without sacrificing speed in theidentification process.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0006] Representative elements, operational features, applicationsand/or advantages of the present invention reside inter alia in thedetails of construction and operation as more fully hereafter depicted,described and claimed—reference being had to the accompanying drawingsforming a part hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like partsthroughout. Other elements, operational features, applications and/oradvantages will become apparent to skilled artisans in light of certainexemplary embodiments recited in the detailed description, wherein:

[0007]FIG. 1 is a schematic drawing of a hardware system including theminutiae matching system in accordance with an exemplary embodiment ofthe present invention;

[0008]FIG. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating a matched minutiae system inaccordance with the prior art;

[0009]FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating the improved matchedminutiae system in accordance with a representative aspect of thepresent invention; and

[0010]FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating a preferred embodiment ofthe inventive matched minutiae in accordance with another exemplaryembodiment of the present invention.

[0011] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that elements in theFigures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have notnecessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some ofthe elements in the Figures may be exaggerated relative to otherelements to help improve understanding of various embodiments of thepresent invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

[0012] The following descriptions are of exemplary embodiments of theinvention and the inventor's conception of the best mode and are notintended to limit the scope, applicability or configuration of theinvention in any way. Rather, the following description is intended toprovide convenient illustrations for implementing various embodiments ofthe invention. As will become apparent, changes may be made in thefunction and/or arrangement of any of the elements described in thedisclosed exemplary embodiments without departing from the spirit andscope of the invention.

[0013]FIG. 1 illustrates a minutiae matching processing system 10 thatmay be used to incorporate the inventive system and is described in moredetail in U.S. Pat. No. 5,960,101, herein incorporated by reference. Thesystem 10 includes a data storage and retrieval system 100 that storesand retrieves minutiae images of prints, including fingerprints and palmprints. In a representatively preferred embodiment, the prints may bescanned using a commercially available scanner and subsequentlyprocessing the images before storing in the system 100.

[0014] The system 10 also includes a distributed matcher controller 110and an adaptive minutiae matching processor 120 which perform an initialmatch of a first print set to a second print set. The inventive systemis loaded into the processor 120 in the preferred embodiment. Flowdiagrams of embodiments of the inventive system is illustrated in detailin FIGS. 3 and 4.

[0015] The records may be processed from unsolved latent prints, tenprint fingerprints or palm prints, etc. An unsolved latent print istypically defined as a finger or palm print lifted from a crime scene orunknown source whose owner is unknown. A ten print fingerprint isgenerally referenced to as a set of 10 fingerprints that may have beentaken from a person by either the rolled or flat method of capturing theprints in a media. Typically, the ten print fingerprints are processedto produce search records against which a file record processed from alatent print is compared. It is understood that ten prints may includetoe or palm prints as well.

[0016] The minutiae matching system 10 also includes an enhanced matcherprocessor 130 which may be based on any one of a number of availablecomputer systems, such as a personal computer or Unix computer systemmanufactured by Hewlett Packard Compaq Corporation.

[0017] The minutiae matching system 10 may optionally include a numberof workstations, such as an input station 140 and a verification station150. The above systems are well known in the art and currently availablefrom Printrak International, a Motorola company.

[0018]FIG. 2 illustrates a flow diagram of a prior art method ofmatching minutiae. In block 200, identified finger or palm prints (orboth) are captured. The prints may be scanned live (i.e. directly from aperson's fingers or palm placed on a scanner) or may be scanned from aprint card. Each print contains minutiae which have respective X-Ycoordinate positions and angles of orientation as described in detail inU.S. Pat. No. 5,960,101 herein incorporated by reference. Individualcaptured minutiae of each print form what is termed a “search record.” Asearch record may be referred to as a “reference print” as well.

[0019] Block 220 illustrates the step of capturing unsolved latentprints from, for example, as crime scene. The latent prints may bescanned from the captured media and the individual minutiae with theirrespective X-Y coordinate positions and angles of orientation arecategorized and stored. Individual captured minutiae of each unsolvedlatent print form what is termed a “file record.”

[0020] The individual minutiae data of the file record are stored in thedatabase. The minutiae of the search and file records are compared in aminutiae matcher microprocessor 240. In particular, the X-Y coordinatesand the angles of orientation of minutiae in the search and file recordsare compared to determine which prints are possible matches and matchscores are assigned as illustrated in Block 250. Then, a down-selectionprocess takes place where the matching operation produces an ordered orsorted list of possible sets of matching prints for further evaluationas shown in Block 260. A list of mated minutiae for each set of recordsis produced and a preferred N number of records having scores above anassigned level are returned to an examiner as illustrated in Block 270.

[0021] Minutia on a search record is termed as “mated” if there iscorresponding minutia on the file record, or if there is a correspondingminutia that falls on or near the minutiae on the file record. Otherknown print matching techniques may also be used in which the focus ison matching a file record individual minutiae, as well as features inthe immediate vicinity of the file record individual minutiae, withcorresponding search record individual minutiae, as well as features inthe immediate vicinity of the individual print minutiae as described inthe U.S. Pat. No. 5,960,101 patent, herein incorporated by reference.

[0022] In the enhanced minutiae matcher embodiment illustrated in FIG.3, a file record is processed from an identified print in block 210. Asearch record is also processed by retrieving an unsolved latent printfrom an unsolved latent database of block 230, as shown in block 220.Such records may be processed as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,960,101,herein incorporated by reference.

[0023] According to the invention, the file record and/or the searchrecords may be weighted as described below, individually or together,prior to a matching process performed in the modified minutiae matchershown in block 240 or the records may be weighted as illustrated inblock 300, individually or together with the matching process in themodified minutiae matcher of block 240. Once processed, the weighted andmatched file and/or search records are sorted as shown in block 250 andan assigned number of matched scores are identified for review as shownin block 270.

[0024] In another exemplary embodiment illustrated in FIG. 4, the filerecord of block 210 may be compared or matched to the search recordprocessed from the unsolved latent print retrieved in block 220 from theunsolved latent database shown in block 230 in the minutiae matchershown in block 240. The matched records are scored and sorted as shownin block 250 and the scores may be normalized as described below andshown in block 320. The normalized scores are retrieved in block 330 andprovided to the examiner according to an assigned value N as shown inblock 270.

[0025] In still another exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 4, the filerecord is processed in the minutiae matcher of block 240 with the searchrecord process in block 220 to provide matched scores to be sorted asshown in block 250. In addition the file record is weighted as shown inblock 300 and subsequently normalized with the sorted matched scores asillustrated in block 320. The normalized scores are retrieved in block330 and provided to the examiner according to an assigned value N asshown in block 270.

[0026] The weighting process illustrated in block 300 of FIGS. 3 and 4is described as follows. Conventional minutiae match algorithmstypically employ what is known in the art as a ‘Forward Search’ whichgenerally matches two sets of minutiae features based on how similarthey are as compared with each other. A matching score may be generatedbased on the number of minutiae pair matches and the closeness of eachminutiae pair matched. Typically, the closeness of a match may bedetermined by evaluation of the planar Cartesian coordinates (e.g.,scalar quantities) of minutiae features (i.e., terminations andbifurcations) and their instantaneous derivatives (e.g., vectorquantities). The following expression, for example, may be used toillustrate how the forward search process may proceed: ∑ i = 1 n  ℕ ^ 〈 S | R i 〉 = forward = ∑ i = 1 n  M i forward

[0027] where n is the number of file records R_(i) being searched,

represents the minutiae match operator, S represents the search record,and forward = ∑ i = 1 n  M i forward

[0028] corresponds to a plurality of minutiae match values for the‘forward search’.

[0029] Additionally, the search may be performed in the oppositedirection by swapping the search print record for the file print recordin accordance with, for example: ∑ i = 1 n  ℕ ^  〈 R i | S 〉 =reverse = ∑ i = 1 n  M i reverse

[0030] where n is the number of file records R_(i) being searched,

represents the minutiae match operator, S represents the search record,and reverse = ∑ i = 1 n  M i reverse

[0031] corresponds to a plurality of minutiae match values for the‘reverse search’. In general, the reverse search, that is the comparisonof a file record (ten print) to a search record (unsolved latentprint)tends to produce results demonstrating enhanced accuracy.

[0032] In accordance with one exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention, a weighting factor comprising a function of the number ofminutiae matched for each minutiae match record is used to scale theotherwise unweighted minutiae match values so as to differentiate thoseminutiae match values corresponding to larger or smaller aggregatenumbers of matched minutiae features. The result is a novel scoringprocess that, at least in part, accounts for or otherwise addresses theminutiae number ratio $\frac{L_{n}}{T_{n}}$

[0033] of search to file prints, where L_(n) generally corresponds tothe number of minutiae present in the file records, for example, of anunsolved latent print database (i.e., ‘latent print’ database) and T_(n)generally corresponds to the number of minutiae present in a print takenfrom an individual i.e., a ‘ten print’, a ‘palm print’, and the like.Typically, the number of minutiae features present in a latent printwill be less than or equal to the number of features available in a ‘tenprint’ database. Accordingly, the minutiae number ratio may typicallytake on values in the range of $0 < \frac{L_{n}}{T_{n}} < 1.$

[0034] In one exemplary embodiment, in accordance with a representativeaspect of the instant invention, a weighting operator {circumflex over(Θ)} may be defined as:$\hat{\Theta} = \frac{S_{i}^{3}{\exp \left( \frac{L_{n}}{T_{n}} \right)}}{{CL}_{n}^{2}}$

[0035] An exemplary application of a representative weighting operator{circumflex over (Θ)} so defined may be, for example: ∑ i = 1 n  Θ ^ S i reverse = †

[0036] where

^(†) is observed to be about at least 10% improved over either

^(forward) or

^(reverse).

[0037] In other exemplary embodiments, any$\hat{\Theta} \propto \left( \frac{L_{n}}{T_{n}} \right)$

[0038] or {circumflex over (Θ)}={circumflex over (Θ)}(L_(n),T_(n)) maybe alternatively, conjunctively and/or sequentially employed toreproduced or otherwise generate a substantially similar result inaccordance with the instant invention.

[0039] The present invention may be described herein in terms offunctional block components, screen shots, optional selections andvarious processing steps. It should be appreciated that such functionalblocks may be realized by any number of hardware and/or softwarecomponents configured to perform the specified functions. For example,the present invention may employ various integrated circuit components,e.g., memory elements, processing elements, logic elements, matchabledata structures, and the like, which may carry out a variety offunctions under the control of one or more microprocessors or othercontrol devices.

[0040] Similarly, the software elements of the present invention may beimplemented with any programming or scripting language such as, forexample, C, C++, Java, COBOL, assembler, PERL, eXtensible MarkupLanguage (XML), etc., or any programming or scripting language now knownor hereafter derived in the art, with the various algorithms beingimplemented with any combination of data structures, objects, processes,routines or other programming elements. Further, it should be noted thatthe present invention may employ any number of conventional techniquesfor data transmission, signaling, data processing, network control, andthe like. Still further, the invention could be used to detect orprevent security issues with a client-side scripting language, such asJavaScript, VBScript or the like. For a basic introduction ofcryptography, please review a text written by Bruce Schneider entitled“Applied Cryptography: Protocols, Algorithms, And Source Code In C,”published by John Wiley & Sons (second edition, 1996), which is herebyincorporated by reference.

[0041] It should be appreciated that the particular implementationsshown and described herein are illustrative of the invention and itsbest mode and are not intended to otherwise limit the scope of thepresent invention in any way. Indeed, for the sake of brevity,conventional data networking, application development and otherfunctional aspects of the systems (and components of the individualoperating components of the systems) may not be described in detailherein. Furthermore, the connecting lines shown in the various figurescontained herein are intended to represent exemplary functionalrelationships and/or physical couplings between the various elements. Itshould be noted that many alternative or additional functionalrelationships or physical connections may be present in a practicalsystem.

[0042] It will be appreciated, that many applications of the presentinvention could be formulated. One skilled in the art will appreciatethat the network may include any system for exchanging data, such as,for example, the Internet, an intranet, an extranet, WAN, LAN, satellitecommunications, and/or the like. It is noted that the network may beimplemented as other types of networks, such as an interactivetelevision (ITV) network. The users may interact with the system via anyinput device such as a keyboard, mouse, kiosk, personal digitalassistant, handheld computer (e.g., Palm Pilot®), cellular phone and/orthe like. Similarly, the invention could be used in conjunction with anytype of personal computer, network computer, workstation, minicomputer,mainframe, or the like running any operating system such as any versionof Windows, Windows XP, Windows Whistler, Windows ME, Windows NT,Windows2000, Windows 98, Windows 95, MacOS, OS/2, BeOS, Linux, UNIX, orany operating system now known or hereafter derived by those skilled inthe art. Moreover, the invention may be readily implemented with TCP/IPcommunications protocols, IPX, Appletalk, IP-6, NetBIOS, OSI or anynumber of existing or future protocols. Moreover, the systemcontemplates the use, sale and/or distribution of any goods, services orinformation having similar functionality described herein.

[0043] The computing units may be connected with each other via a datacommunication network. The network may be a public network and assumedto be insecure and open to eavesdroppers. In one exemplaryimplementation, the network may be embodied as the internet. In thiscontext, the computers may or may not be connected to the internet atall times. Specific information related to data traffic protocols,standards, and application software utilized in connection with theInternet may be obtained, for example, from DILIP NAIK, INTERNETSTANDARDS AND PROTOCOLS (1998); JAVA 2 COMPLETE, various authors, (Sybex1999); DEBORAH RAY AND ERIC RAY, MASTERING HTML 4.0 (1997). LOSHIN,TCP/IP CLEARLY EXPLAINED (1997). All of these texts are herebyincorporated by reference. A variety of conventional communicationsmedia and protocols may be used for data links, such as, for example, aconnection to an Internet Service Provider (ISP) over the local loop asis typically used in connection with standard modem communication, cablemodem, Dish networks, ISDN, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), or variouswireless communication methods. Polymorph code systems might also residewithin a local area network (LAN) which interfaces to a network via aleased line (T1, D3, etc.). Such communication methods are well known inthe art, and are covered in a variety of standard texts. See, e.g.,GILBERT HELD, UNDERSTANDING DATA COMMUNICATIONS (1996), herebyincorporated by reference.

[0044] As will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art, thepresent invention may be embodied as a method, a system, a device,and/or a computer program product. Accordingly, the present inventionmay take the form of an entirely software embodiment, an entirelyhardware embodiment, or an embodiment combining aspects of both softwareand hardware. Furthermore, the present invention may take the form of acomputer program product on a computer-readable storage medium havingcomputer-readable program code means embodied in the storage medium. Anysuitable computer-readable storage medium may be utilized, includinghard disks, CD-ROM, optical storage devices, magnetic storage devices,and/or the like.

[0045] Data communication is accomplished through any suitablecommunication means, such as, for example, a telephone network,Intranet, Internet, point of interaction device (point of sale device,personal digital assistant, cellular phone, kiosk, etc.), onlinecommunications, off-line communications, wireless communications, and/orthe like. One skilled in the art will also appreciate that, for securityreasons, any databases, systems, or components of the present inventionmay consist of any combination of databases or components at a singlelocation or at multiple locations, wherein each database or systemincludes any of various suitable security features, such as firewalls,access codes, encryption, de-encryption, compression, decompression,and/or the like.

[0046] The present invention is described herein with reference toscreen shots, block diagrams and flowchart illustrations of methods,apparatus (e.g., systems), and computer program products according tovarious aspects of the invention. It will be understood that eachfunctional block of the block diagrams and the flowchart illustrations,and combinations of functional blocks in the block diagrams andflowchart illustrations, respectively, can be implemented by computerprogram instructions. These computer program instructions may be loadedonto a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such thatthe instructions which execute on the computer or other programmabledata processing apparatus create means for implementing the functionsspecified in the flowchart block or blocks.

[0047] These computer program instructions may also be stored in acomputer-readable memory that can direct a computer or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readablememory produce an article of manufacture including instruction meanswhich implement the function specified in the flowchart block or blocks.The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer orother programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series ofoperational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmableapparatus to produce a computer-implemented process such that theinstructions which execute on the computer or other programmableapparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in theflowchart block or blocks.

[0048] Accordingly, functional blocks of the block diagrams andflowchart illustrations support combinations of means for performing thespecified functions, combinations of steps for performing the specifiedfunctions, and program instruction means for performing the specifiedfunctions. It will also be understood that each functional block of theblock diagrams and flowchart illustrations, and combinations offunctional blocks in the block diagrams and flowchart illustrations, canbe implemented by either special purpose hardware-based computer systemswhich perform the specified functions or steps, or suitable combinationsof special purpose hardware and computer instructions.

[0049] In the foregoing specification, the invention has been describedwith reference to specific embodiments. However, it will be appreciatedthat various modifications and changes can be made without departingfrom the scope of the present invention as set forth in the claimsbelow. The specification and figures are to be regarded in anillustrative manner, rather than a restrictive one, and all suchmodifications are intended to be included within the scope of presentinvention. Accordingly, the scope of the invention should be determinedby the appended claims and their legal equivalents, rather than bymerely the examples given above. For example, the steps recited in anyof the method or process claims may be executed in any order and are notlimited to the order presented in the claims.

[0050] Benefits, other advantages, and solutions to problems have beendescribed above with regard to specific embodiments. However, thebenefits, advantages, solutions to problems, and any element(s) that maycause any benefit, advantage, or solution to occur or become morepronounced are not to be construed as critical, required, or essentialfeatures or elements of any or all the claims. As used herein, the terms“comprises”, “comprising”, or any other variation thereof, are intendedto cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method,article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements does not includeonly those elements but may include other elements not expressly listedor inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. Further, noelement described herein is required for the practice of the inventionunless expressly described as “essential” or “critical”. Othercombinations and/or modifications of the above-described structures,arrangements, applications, proportions, elements, materials orcomponents used in the practice of the present invention, in addition tothose not specifically recited, may be varied or otherwise particularlyadapted by those skilled in the art to specific environments,manufacturing or design parameters or other operating requirementswithout departing from the general principles of the same.

[0051] While the invention has been described in conjunction withspecific embodiments thereof, additional advantages and modificationswill readily occur to those skilled in the art. The invention, in itsbroader aspects, is therefore not limited to the specific details,representative apparatus, and illustrative examples shown and described.Various alterations, modifications and variations will be apparent tothose skilled in the art in light of the foregoing description. Thus, itshould be understood that the invention is not limited by the foregoingdescription, but embraces all such alterations, modifications andvariations in accordance with the spirit and scope of the appendedclaims.

[0052] Moreover, the term “a” or “an”, as used herein, are defined asone or more than one. The term “plurality”, as used herein, defined astwo or more than two. The term “another”, as used herein, is defined asat least a second or more. The terms “including” and/or “having”, asused herein, are defined as comprising (i.e., open language). The term“coupled”, as used herein, is defined as connected, although notnecessarily directly, and not necessarily mechanically. The term“program” or “set of instructions”, as used herein, is defined as asequence of instructions designed for execution on a microprocessor orcomputer system. A program or set of instructions may include asubroutine, a function, a procedure, an object method, an objectimplementation, an executable application, an applet, a servlet, asource code, an object code, a shared library/dynamic load libraryand/or other sequence of instructions designed for execution of acomputer system.

We claim:
 1. A method for minutiae record matching, comprising the stepsof: providing at least a first plurality of minutiae match values, saidfirst plurality of match values comprising a first ordered series;providing at least a second plurality of weighting values correspondingto a function of the number of minutiae matched for each minutiae matchrecord; processing said second plurality of match values and said firstplurality of minutiae match values to define a third plurality ofweighted match values; and sorting said third plurality of weightedmatch values to provide a fourth plurality of weighted match valuescomprising a second ordered series.
 2. The method for minutiae recordmatching of claim 1, further comprising the step of normalizing at leastone of said first ordered series, said second plurality of weightingvalues, said third plurality of weighted match values and said secondordered series.
 3. The method for minutiae record matching of claim 2,where said normalization is approximated by at least one of a seriesexpansion, a Taylor expansion, an Euler expansion and an expansion ofsines and cosines.
 4. The method for minutiae record matching of claim2, wherein said normalization step comprises at least one of anarbitrary normalization and normalization as a function of a weightingfactor.
 5. The method for minutiae record matching of claim 1, whereinsaid ordered first series and said ordered second series are at leastone of at least partially different and at least partially similar. 6.The method for minutiae record matching of claim 1, wherein said sortingsubstantially organizes said fourth plurality of weighted match valuesas a function of the probability of matching a substantially discreteminutiae record.
 7. The method for minutiae record matching of claim 1,wherein said step of providing said second plurality of weighting valuesis performed substantially before said step of providing said firstplurality of minutiae match values.
 8. The method for minutiae recordmatching of claim 1, wherein said step of providing said secondplurality of weighting values is performed substantially after said stepof providing said first plurality of minutiae match values.
 9. Themethod for minutiae record matching of claim 1, wherein said step ofproviding said second plurality of weighting values is performedsubstantially concurrent with said step of providing said firstplurality of minutiae match values.
 10. The method for minutiae recordmatching of claim 1, further comprising the step of selecting a minutiaerecord from said second ordered series as a function of the weightedmatch value.
 11. The multiple application of the method for minutiaerecord matching of claim 1, comprising iterative elimination of minutiaerecords from a data store.
 12. The multiple application of the methodfor minutiae record matching of claim 1, comprising iterative additionof minutiae records to a data store.
 13. The method for minutiae recordmatching of claim 1, wherein said weighting values substantiallycorrespond to a ratio of $\frac{L_{n}}{T_{n}},$

where L_(n) represents the number of minutiae present in a latent printof a database record and T_(n) represents the number of minutiae presentin a print of a search record.
 14. The method for minutiae recordmatching of claim 13, wherein said weighting value comprises$\frac{M_{i}^{3}{\exp \left( \frac{L_{n}}{T_{n}} \right)}}{{CL}_{n}^{2}},$

where M_(i) represents a minutiae match value and C represents anynon-zero constant.
 15. The method for minutiae record matching of claim14, wherein C=1.
 16. The method for minutiae record matching of claim14, wherein said constant C comprises ( M i  max  ( unweighted ) max ( weighted ) ) - 1 ,

where M_(i) represents a minutiae match value,

_(unweighted) represents a set of unweighted minutiae match values, and

_(weighted) represents a set of weighted minutiae match values.
 17. Themethod for minutiae record matching of claim 14, wherein said weightingvalue is approximated by at least one of a series expansion, a Taylorexpansion, an Euler expansion and an expansion of sines and cosines. 18.An automated digital processing system for minutiae record matching,comprising: means for providing at least a first plurality of minutiaematch values, said first plurality of match values comprising a firstordered series; means for providing at least a second plurality ofweighting values corresponding to a function of the number of minutiaematched for each minutiae record; means for processing said secondplurality of match values and said first plurality of minutiae matchvalues to effectively define a third plurality of weighted match values;and means for sorting said third plurality of weighted match values toprovide a fourth plurality of weighted match values comprising a secondordered series.
 19. The system for minutiae record matching of claim 18,further comprising means for normalizing at least one of said firstordered series, said second plurality of weighting values, said thirdplurality of weighted match values and said second ordered series. 20.The system for minutiae record matching of claim 18, wherein saidsorting means comprises means for effectively organizing said secondordered series as a function of the probability of matching asubstantially discrete minutiae record.
 21. The system for minutiaerecord matching of claim 18, further comprising means for selecting aminutiae record from said second ordered series as a function of theweighted match value.
 22. The system for minutiae record matching ofclaim 18, further comprising means for eliminating a minutiae recordfrom a data store.
 23. The system for minutiae record matching of claim18, further comprising means for adding a minutiae record to a datastore.
 24. A method for minutiae record matching, comprising the stepsof: providing at least a plurality of file records; providing at least asearch record; processing said plurality of file records and said searchrecord to produce a first plurality of minutiae match values, said firstplurality of match values comprising a first ordered series; providingat least a second plurality of weighting values corresponding to afunction of the number of minutiae matched for each minutiae record,wherein said weighting value comprises$\frac{M_{i}^{3}{\exp \left( \frac{L_{n}}{T_{n}} \right)}}{{CL}_{n}^{2}},$

where M_(i) represents a minutiae match value, L_(n) represents thenumber of minutiae present in a latent print from a database, T_(n)represents the number of minutiae present in a print from a searchrecord, and C represents a constant comprising ( M i  max  (unweighted ) max  ( weighted ) ) - 1 ,

where

_(unweighted) represents the set of all unweighted minutiae matchvalues, and

_(weighted) represents the set of all weighted minutiae match values;processing said second plurality of match values and said firstplurality of minutiae match values to define a third plurality ofweighted match values; sorting said third plurality of weighted matchvalues to provide a fourth plurality of weighted match values comprisinga second ordered series, said second ordered series substantiallyorganized as a function of the probability of matching a substantiallydiscrete minutiae record; normalizing at least one of said thirdplurality of weighted match values and said second ordered series as afunction of said weighting values. selecting a minutiae record from saidsecond ordered series as a function of the normalized and weighted matchvalue.
 25. The method for minutiae record matching of claim 24, wheresaid normalization is approximated by at least one of a seriesexpansion, a Taylor expansion, an Euler expansion and an expansion ofsines and cosines.
 26. The method for minutiae record matching of claim24, wherein said weighting value is approximated by at least one of aseries expansion, a Taylor expansion, an Euler expansion and anexpansion of sines and cosines.
 27. The method for minutiae recordmatching of claim 24, wherein said step of providing said secondplurality of weighting values is performed substantially before saidstep of providing said first plurality of minutiae match values.
 28. Themethod for minutiae record matching of claim 24, wherein said step ofproviding said second plurality of weighting values is performedsubstantially after said step of providing said first plurality ofminutiae match values.
 29. The method for minutiae record matching ofclaim 24, wherein said step of providing said second plurality ofweighting values is performed substantially concurrent with said step ofproviding said first plurality of minutiae match values.
 30. The methodfor minutiae record matching of claim 24, wherein said weighting valueis approximated by at least one of a series expansion, a Taylorexpansion, an Euler expansion and an expansion of sines and cosines.